The next step will be farming all those wonderful soapless BoA jobs out to other countries. Like Mexico and India.

I work at BOA and received the article via email from a co-worker. I was astounded. First, we have never been supplied with free soup and crackers. Second, they took away the ability to have assorted flavored teas sometime last year. Third, they will allow sugar loaded hot chocolate but not sugar free....what about us diabetics who can't have the sugar. Is this an infraction of the ADA policies?

Then I spoke to an associate who just came back from the offshore office in India. Guess what??? They get FREE breakfast, lunch and dinner. You know, you could cut my pay if you are going to feed me three meals a day.

Also in the interest of going "green", we no longer get bottled water. Instead they put in a filtered machine for water, which is fine, but it doesn't dispense hot water. A co-worker purchased a coffee machine just so we can have hot water for our tea, which we buy ourselves.

I'm by no means stating that a company owes me any of these perks. However, if you give them, don't expect people to be happy when you then take them away. Especially when Mr. Lewis hasn't lost a penny. I would love to receive just a portion of the many stock options he receives every year. I only want recognition for the work I do. Is that too much to ask for???

@mindshadow: HN of Ca charges thier employees $36 a month to park. They say you can park on the street but the building is next to a major street with no parking and bordered by a Bankruptcy court building. So there might be 5-10 spots if you get there real early. If you carpooled they didn't charge you so the wife and I always carpooled. I think the parking/complex owners actually charged HN $70 a month per parking spot.

Sorry I am just tired of teachers crying poor. You get a year's wages for 9 months of work. Just so you don't feel alone, I get tired of cops and firemen crying poor too.

LOL!

Not so. Non-union sets and non-union production houses offer similar perks. In many production companies perks are provided across the board to non-union employees as well (for example Pixar and LucasFilm).

I didn't go into detail about other industries in my post, but there are *plenty* of other companies where perks are an automatic part of the incentive package.

The most obvious example is Google. [www.google.com]

Anyway, I think you get my point: that your original, blanket statement was inaccurate.

The order to cut costs probably went from Board -> CEO -> VPs -> Division Heads -> Regional Managers all the way down, with each person either finding something to cut, or ordering the people below them to find cuts.

When it gets down to the point that it can't be passed further, those managers have to figure out something to cut.

When you cut costs, you can either hack things off like a butcher, or snip here and there like a surgeon.

"This guys" = "These guys"

Oh, and those elevators you folks like to ride to your cubicle on the tenth floor? I see coin-operated ones in your future. You can always use the stairs if you don't like that; the staircase will remain free for the time being (although management reserves the right to change that at any time without notice.)

I'm a consultant to corporations on cost-cutting strategies and those are just a few of the ideas I've been proposing to my clients for a few years now. There's more where that came from but I'm reluctant to give away more of what I charge corporations for.

I'm not happy to hear about the kitchenette soap cuts - I have to ride the elevator with these people - I don't want their germs spreading any more than they have to...

Guess what happened to our freebie? Yep. Down the drain with all the wasted coffee.

Maybe the executives are practicing up for the day when they'll have to keep their eye on the soap and NEVER bend over after dropping it...

@damitaimee: You do realize that they are talking about the entire organization of BoA, not just the banks. Not every person employed by BoA handles money as part of their day-in day-out routine. Y'all do realize, too, that they are just talking about the the soap in the kitchen/break room areas? I would think that the elimination of soap in the restrooms would be a health-code type of violation.

Now, add in a complete package discount, where ontop of the individual item bulk discount they get, they also get a discount for their entire order for buying from the same company. And upfront payment discount, when they pay for all 12 months worth of supplies at once. Etc. Etc.

Losing perks: big deal

Paying a CEO $28 million after a pretty crappy year, I would be one po'ed investor. Only in corporate America does a company make a lot of noise over $2 in office supplies but not even blink over dropping $28 million for failure.

I'm not exaggerating, there is literally human waste smeared, sprayed, dropped, whatever, on the walls and floors of the bathrooms.

[www.cnbc.com]

"...companies with cultures of freebies are generally less productive..."

And you know this how?

Some industries require freebees in order to make the companies *more* productive. Just for example, in the entertainment industry, entire departments (called "Creative Services") are set-up to provide freebees for staff.

By providing lunch, dinner, snacks, places to lounge or relax, you keep the crew and talent from heading off in their cars on their breaks, where they could get lost (if they are on location), tied-up (the waitress was so slow!) or distracted (we popped into the casino and time just got away). You keep them near, and happy, so that when you are ready for them or need them, they are there and satisfied. This allows you to make the most of your time, and keeps you on schedule as much as possible, maximizing productivity and keeping costs down.

And it's not just for big name productions, this goes even to small post-production houses that work on corporate video.

Have you noticed a lot of bank tellers are young moms, single women (who tend to diet), or recent grads? They don't really get paid that well. By making sure there is a small amount of free nutritional support available, BoA was ensuring these tellers would have the brain-power to count accurately, treat customers nicely, and make it through the day productively.

Now, by cutting these teensy perks, BoA may save some money upfront, sure but they may also ultimately contribute to their services sucking even more.

The offical statement that Bank of America customer service has been given to read to customers:

On Dec. 28, a CNBC broadcast highlighted a memo from Bank of America referencing potential cutbacks on numerous items. At this time, we are unaware of the memo and have not cut back on soup in the cafeteria, hand soap, or any of the other items mentioned.

Yes, I've worked for several companies that provide such perks and better.

I spent a year handling marketing for a law firm in Washington, D.C. The firm had 30 mini-kitchens scattered throughout so that you didn't have to walk further than 100 feet for coffee/decaf/soup/crackers/hot choc./flavored tea/plastic utensils/napkins/paper towel/screen wipes or starlight mints.

Every Monday they provided sandwiches/chips/cookies for lunch, and every Friday they had a rooftop happy hour from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with free beer/wine/snacks.

Other perks included quarterly financial bonuses, Christmas parties with huge door-prizes (trips, electronics, etc), and "corporate silver" on your birthday and certain holidays (i.e. engraved tiffany key rings, fountain pens, leather and silver monogrammed coasters, biz card cases, etc.).

Even the non-profits I've worked at provided coffee and hand soap, although at one, they didn't provide paper coffee cups, but they did cover taxi's.

Read my upcoming response to SWALVE for info on the other, better end of the scale, where perks are required, and actually prevent a company from wasting money.

there's no need for soap simply because they aren't handling food? are they kidding me? money is probably one of the dirtiest items around. i used to work in a check cashing store and my fingers would turn grey after just a couple hours of handling cash. also, people bring in some of the most disgusting money. i have been forced to take in sticky, wet, or even smelly bills.

come on now bofa, buy hand soap!! quit being such a greedy bitch so your employees can avoid illnesses from handling dirty cash.

He's not slashing it... He's keeping it for himself. Maybe they are actually paying him in Sugar Free Hot Chocolate and Soup and Hand Soap...

Reason the first: stock options. Stock options arose in the 80s and 90s as boards hired economists in order to figure out how to align CEO interests with their interests. CEOs were inclined to screw with the numbers in order to get their profit-based salaries to go up in the short term. The idea was then that CEOs would have the same incentives as the board of shareholders. The rules about exercising options were to prevent running the stock price up one quarter then bailing on the insider info before the crash.
This didn't work, because they paid them so much in stock that they ended up SITTING ON THE BOARD. They in many ways set their own salary. Next post will have reason #2.

In 2002 BoA had 132,583 employees [www.encyclopedia.com] assuming an average of 3 hot chocolates a month, that is 397749 packets. A box of 50 Nestle hot chocolate is $10 @ Office Depot. That translates to $79,550 a month just in hot chocolate or just less than $1 million a year.

If the CEO wanted some really loyal employees he would make a grand gesture and take the cost of the soup and crackers out his own pocket.

This is retarded. They are not going to stock soap and snack stations? Seriously...this is so dumb it should of never been printed. Who cares about hand soap and crackers? I'd much rather not have hand soap and snacks and maybe make .0002$ per hour more.

Why is this a big deal, you guys need to read more. It says they're cutting the soap at the snack counter sinks. But it also says "The bank presumably will keep hand soap in bathrooms. City laws require it".

Slow news day.

Ease up people!! Yes they cut some perks and that sucks but to be honest do any of you work for a company that offered that stuff in the first place? I work for one of the larger financial institutions in the Northeast and we NEVER had anything like that. Free Coffee, that's it... I would also not be worried the BoA is going to be tanking anytime soon.. They are probably just looking to get their dividends up a tad to ease some stockholder tension because of the subprime fiasco. If they were trying to save the company from financial ruin, you'd see more than tea, soap and soup being cut. And if you think they REALLY want to pay someone 28MM to drive the ship than you are out of your mind. CEO salaries are driven by supply and demand just like everything else. If any of you feel you can run a multi billion dollar enterprise for 50K please feel free to submit an application but I doubt ANYONE reading this forum has any experience in running a (let me say it again) multi billion dollar finacial instituion. There are not many of those people out there and the market will dictate what they get paid.. And for the record, I am not affiliated with BoA at all, in fact they recently rejected my application for employment..

This is kinda silly. Who cares if their kitchen doesn't have HAND soap. Chances are, there is still DISH soap to clean their coffee mugs. Who uses HAND soap at their office kitchen anyway?

As much as I like to rag on Bank of America, this is just a New Year's Eve filler article.

Isn't there a health code regulation about having soap or hand sanitizers in the restrooms?

It's just a pretty alarming warning sign.

If a company can't even afford to keep stocking soap and other small items for the break room, I doubt there's much chance of getting a significant raise anytime soon. Not much prospects there.

And crackers?! Crackers?! Is there no justice?

@swalve: Look, I realize it was a slightly irrational response, but c'mon. If you've done these things as a company (as a way to make employee's lives a little easier, which is a thoughtful gesture) and then you yank them away under THESE circumstances...WTF?!?!?

BoA is in the toilet because of who's actions? Upper management, not the employees who make up 96% of the work force. And yet, who gets their little (and they are little) perks taken away? Sure as hell not the same people who put the compnay in it's current situation.

You have a CEO making an obscene amount of money (Yes, $28 million is obscene no matter who you are), and Joe Average loses the his soup and hand soap. Tell me you don't see something wrong with this. If you can't, then my previous questions remains...are you the CEO's nephew.

If my company even suggested charging me $40 to park they would be looking for someone else to manage their call manager/routers. Not that I'm uppity or arrogant or think I'm all that, but I'm just not down with company's doing stupid shit and I have an irrational temper towards those things.

I think they had to cut luxuries because they keep having to pay me for the mistakes they make on my account. They've have to (in addition to refunding fees) compensate me $35 bucks on two occasions. Stupid bank ...

Don't these people think?

Perfect business opportunity...time to launch my Boa (note that's not BoA for all you lawyers out there) Soup Wagon. I'll drive from bank to bank, selling soup and hot chocolate at cutrate prices. Best of all...I'll provide customers free hand soap!

No fair stealing this idea, boys and girls, cause I thought of it first. I will be selling franchises after the first of the year.

@swalve: @ptkdude: Why should they waste money giving you food when you are probably going to complain about it anyway?

Oh, piss off, for chrissakes. What are you? The CEO's nephew or something?

CEO's do not deserve that much money...period. Especially one's that help contribute to the subprime meltdown....

@timmus: Presumably, they signed a contract with the CEO. Are you saying that they should go back on their contract and open themselves up to potential litigation?

@ptkdude: Why should they waste money giving you food when you are probably going to complain about it anyway? Why should I-- someone who doesn't drink sugar free hot chocolate-- subsidize your hot chocolate habit through my lower pay and lower profit sharing and lower stock dividends?

hopefully, the shareholders will see it this way, too, but i doubt it.

I've heard a rumor that they're going to start charging us $40 a month to park (the company owns the building, and it's in a suburb, not downtown).

One of my favorite fallacies: save money, by removing some "non-essential" things from your budget.

Hint to corporations: just because you didn't assign a value to employee goodwill doesn't mean it's not part of the equation.

Skimping on something silly and cheap to make your empoyees lives just SLIGHTLY nicer (for example, a memo goes around: "Paperclips should be recycled, we're cutting the amount of them we're buying."[a real example]) WILL cost you MUCH, much more in lost productivity.

As a BofA employee myself (by way of a takeover), I've never gotten a single free cracker, soup, or hot chocolate. Looks like my worksite has been missing out! Time to stage a protest to get compensation for all those missed entitlements.

I'm more concerned (as an employee) about the cuts to my pension contributions that take effect next year. I'd gladly give up my crackers (if I was getting any) to help fund my retirement. Funny, but I've seen nothing in the media about that!

If you have a Bank of America branch in your town, you should go to the drive-through and give the teller a bottle of hand soap and a pouch of Cup 'o' Soup.